When I first heard this song, I was hooked by its lively techno beat and chorus (which to me sounded like “Blackest, fire gun”). But then I made the mistake of watching the music video, and I was ultimately disappointed in what I saw.

Now you may be one of those people who internally groans every time you see the phrase ‘cultural appropriation’ because it seems like something sensitive people are being too nit-picky about. But I’ll try to explain my reasoning behind my opinion, as an Indian woman, on why the use of South Asian dancers and Indian locations in the music video made me uncomfortable.

The song has nothing to do with Indian culture. While watching, I got the impression that some studio executives heard the song, thought it had a bit of a tribal/exotic feel, and decided to set it in a location (and with people) that conjured “tribal”, “exotic” imagery. The Indian settings and dancing could be replaced with any foreign culture for the same effect, and that’s how it made me feel-replaceable. Like my culture is unimportant and usable as decoration.

In several scenes, the main singers/producers merely stood/sat while ethnic dancers performed around them. This created a very uncomfortable ‘master’/’slave’ perceived dichotomy where the ‘native people’ danced around white people as entertainment in a servile manner. Sure, there were some scenes where MØ danced with the ethnic women, but in other scenes, she sat on a throne while women danced around her, and in another, two of the white artists soaked in a hot tub surrounded by kneeling Indian women. This is also an unfortunate way to go about things, considering the British invaded India in the mid-1900’s and created a ‘white superior’ dichotomy while occupying the country.

The video did nothing for Indian culture-it merely used the culture to enhance the presence of the artists. A lot of the outfits MØ was wearing, such as the flower headpiece near the beginning, aren’t actually part of Indian culture. There was no respect shown to any one foreign ethnicity; instead there is a hodge podge of many different foreign cultures merely included to create a foreign looking aesthetic created for the Western eye.

Overall, the music video just made me feel uncomfortable. The female dancers did seem to be enjoying themselves and having a lot of fun, which is great, but it would be so much more impactful if it actually highlighted Indian culture instead of using it as a colorful background to adorn these white and black musicians. A lot of the imagery was beautiful and the settings seemed to be accurate and on location, but it could have been executed with a lot more finesse and respect for the people within the culture they seem to admire so much.

Hi guys! So as I mentioned before, I’m a college junior. The school year is just starting up and yet it seems that so many of my friends and peers are already incredibly stressed out and weighed down by work, research, and various obligations that are looming over them. The students at my school are all very hard working individuals, and a lot of my South Asian friends are pre-med, which brings on an incredible amount of stress.

I sometimes feel like the odd one out-I slack off on work constantly and yet I still manage to get by. I don’t think I have nearly the amount of work, readings, or quizzes/tests as others. I’ll be starting a more intensive business curriculum this semester, which will challenge me on my introversion more than my intellect, but I still feel that I have more free time than others to do stupid time-wasting activities like watching Netflix.

I understand that how I feel is an emotion built off of privilege; guilt isn’t an emotion that can cause hardships in the same way exorbitant amounts of work can. Sure, I also face incredible stress at times, but that mostly stems from my slight social anxiety and self-inflicted procrastination. Even though I can’t really know what other students are going through, I feel helpless and in pain at seeing others like this all the time. One of my best friends is especially feeling the weight of pre-med responsibilities, and it’s hard knowing there’s nothing I can do to lessen the things she has to do. All I can offer others is my support-and I’m trying to learn how to do that.

Hello there! This is my brand new blog and I’m going to be trying a bit of a strange format, so bear with me-but first, some more about me.

I’m a junior at an American university and I’m studying business. As an introvert with a touch of social anxiety (and a desperate fear of public speaking), logically the very extroverted world of business would be the last place you’d find me. But it’s something I want to do and I am determined to push my limits, because I don’t want to go through life not knowing how far I can get past my fears.

I’ve gone through a lot in life, whether it be family, friends, school, anxiety, etc. I feel overwhelmed sometimes and I hope that by using writing as an outlet, I can stay grounded and remind myself just how privileged I am to be where I am now.

This blog will be random snippets of my daily (or weekly, or monthly) thoughts/feelings about anything and everything. I’m trying to follow a journal style so my posts may not be exciting reads for a passing stranger, but my hope is that by chronicling my emotions in their immediate and raw forms, they’ll be relatable and helpful to anyone who may be experiencing similar things. (Edit: I’ll title personal posts with a number, like 6.00, while more general posts won’t have numbers)

I hope that if you pop in at any time to follow me on my journey, you’ll be able to take something that will aid you with yours. And now that I’m done being a bit cheesy and dramatic, thanks for being here!